Dataset Information

Developing and piloting a communication assessment tool assessing patient perspectives on communication with pharmacists (CAT-Pharm).

ABSTRACT:

Background

Effective communication strategies in health care help to enhance patient empowerment and improve clinical outcomes.

Objective

Adapt the original Communication Assessment (CAT) instrument for the pharmacist profession (CAT-Pharm) and to test its validity and reliability in two different settings.

Setting

Five hospital pharmacies in Italy and five community pharmacies in Malta.

Method

Pilot study involving a standardized multi-step process adhering to internationally accepted and recommended guidelines. Corrections and adjustments to the translation addressed linguistic factors and cultural components. CAT-Pharm, compared to the original CAT, maintained 10 out of the 14 items: one was slightly modified; three were changed to better fit the pharmacist role; one was added.

Main outcome measures

CAT-Pharm development and testing its practicality to assess patient perceptions of pharmacists' interpersonal and communication skills.

Results

CAT-Pharm was tested on 97 patients in the Italian setting and 150 patients in the Maltese setting to assess the practicality of the tool and its usefulness in investigating gaps and priorities for improving pharmacist-patient communication. Results Show reliability and internal validity of the CAT-Pharm tool. The analysis of patient perceptions of communication with the pharmacist in Italy indicated differences from that in Malta. The different settings provided insight into the utility of CAT-Pharm.

Conclusion

This study provided a valid and reliable tool that could be applied to assess patient perception of the pharmacist's communication abilities.

SUBMITTER: Scala D

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9393125 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Publications

Developing and piloting a communication assessment tool assessing patient perspectives on communication with pharmacists (CAT-Pharm).

Scala Daniela D Mucherino Sara S Wirth Francesca F Orlando Valentina V Polidori Piera P Faggiano Maria Ernestina ME Iovine Daniela D Saturnino Paola P Cattel Francesco F Costantini Alberto A Giua Corrado C Makoul Gregory G Azzopardi Lilian M LM Menditto Enrica E

International journal of clinical pharmacy 20220224 4

<h4>Background</h4>Effective communication strategies in health care help to enhance patient empowerment and improve clinical outcomes.<h4>Objective</h4>Adapt the original Communication Assessment (CAT) instrument for the pharmacist profession (CAT-Pharm) and to test its validity and reliability in two different settings.<h4>Setting</h4>Five hospital pharmacies in Italy and five community pharmacies in Malta.<h4>Method</h4>Pilot study involving a standardized multi-step process adhering to inter ...[more]

PMID: 35211832

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Project description:ObjectiveThe purpose was to assess factors potentially affecting care pharmacists provide to HIV/AIDS patients including comfort level, confidence, education, experience, professional competence, continuity of care and patient-provider relationship between pharmacists and HIV-infected patients.MethodsA 24-item questionnaire assessed the constructs of this study. Surveys were distributed from October 2009 to April 2010 to pharmacists in Alabama with varying levels of experience treating HIV-infected patients. Chi-square tests determined whether relationships existed between responses, consisting of how often respondents reported treating HIV-infected patients, amount of HIV education respondents had, participants' confidence with HIV/AIDS knowledge and comfort level counseling HIV-infected patients about their medications.ResultsThirty-three percent of the pharmacists cared for HIV-infected patients on a monthly basis, yet 86% do not feel very confident with their HIV/AIDS knowledge. Forty-four percent were not comfortable counseling patients on antiretroviral medications, and 77% would feel more comfortable with more education. Significant, positive relationships were revealed concerning how often respondents treat HIV-infected patients and their comfort level counseling them (r=0.208, p<0.05). Similar relationships pertaining to the amount of education respondents had regarding HIV, how confident they are in their HIV/AIDS knowledge (r=0.205, p< 0.05), and their comfort level counseling HIV-infected patients on their medications (r=0.312, p<0.01) were found. The time spent treating HIV-infected patients and the education respondents had pertaining to HIV/AIDS related to increased comfort levels concerning counseling patients on their medications.ConclusionsThis research uncovered areas where pharmacists can improve care and treatment for HIV-infected patients. Increasing education on HIV/AIDS and treatment options may lead to increased comfort and confidence in therapeutic management. Through changes in pharmacists' perspectives and abilities to care for their patients, the patient-provider relationship could strengthen, potentially leading to improved medication compliance, enhanced overall health, and a better quality of life for HIV-infected patients.

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Project description:BackgroundEffective communication that integrates the value of patient-centered care is important in healthcare encounters. Communication skills training (CST) has been indicated as effective in improving patient-centered communication behaviors. However, there is a paucity of studies on the impact of CST among Malaysian hospital pharmacists.ObjectiveThis study aimed to evaluate the effects of a patient-centered CST program on patient-centered communication scores, communication self-efficacy, and attitudes toward concordance among pharmacists in public hospitals.MethodsA communication skills training (CST) program was conducted among hospital pharmacists. This training intervention was developed based on patient-centered communication frameworks and techniques, namely the Four Habits Model and motivational interviewing. A pre-test/post-test quasi-experimental design was implemented for the evaluation. Pharmacists underwent pre-test/post-test audiotaped simulated consultations and completed questionnaires, including the Revised United States-Leeds Attitudes Toward Concordance scale (RUS-LATCon) and Communication Self-Efficacy scale. The Four Habits Coding Scheme (FHCS) was used to evaluate patient-centered communication scores from the audiotapes, and the Wilcoxon signed-rank test was used to analyze for differences in the pre- and post-intervention scores.ResultsA total of 38 pharmacists from four tertiary hospitals participated in this study and completed the pre-test. However, due to the impact of COVID-19, only 23 pharmacists completed the post-test data collection. Improvements were noted in the FHCS scores post-training, including items related to exploring patients' concerns, acceptability, and barriers to treatment. Based on the questionnaire, there was an improvement in recognizing patients' needs and potential medication uncertainty and an increase in the overall communication self-efficacy scores after the training.ConclusionsCST may help improve the adoption of patient-centered communication in pharmacists' consultations with patients.

Project description:BackgroundIndividuals with high risk for lung cancer may benefit from lung cancer screening, but there are associated risks as well as benefits. Shared decision-making (SDM) tools with personalized information may provide key support for patients. Understanding patient perspectives on educational tools to facilitate SDM for lung cancer screening may support tool development.AimThis study aimed to explore patient perspectives related to a SDM tool for lung cancer screening using a qualitative approach.MethodsWe elicited patient perspectives by showing a provider-facing SDM tool. Focus group interviews that ranged in duration from 1.5 to 2 h were conducted with 23 individuals with high risk for lung cancer. Data were interpreted inductively using thematic analysis to identify patients' thoughts on and desires for a patient-facing SDM tool.ResultsThe findings highlight that patients would like to have educational information related to lung cancer screening. We identified several key themes to be considered in the future development of patient-facing tools: barriers to acceptance, preference against screening and seeking empowerment. One further theme illustrated effects of patient-provider relationship as a limitation to meeting lung cancer screening information needs. Participants also noted several suggestions for the design of technology decision aids.ConclusionThese findings suggest that patients desire additional information on lung cancer screening in advance of clinical visits. However, there are several issues that must be considered in the design and development of technology to meet the information needs of patients for lung cancer screening decisions.Patient or public contributionPatients, service users, caregivers or members of the public were not involved in the study design, conduct, analysis or interpretation of the data. However, clinical experts in health communication provided detailed feedback on the study protocol, including the focus group approach. The study findings contribute to a better understanding of patient expectations for lung cancer screening decisions and may inform future development of tools for SDM.

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Dataset Information

Developing and piloting a communication assessment tool assessing patient perspectives on communication with pharmacists (CAT-Pharm).

Background

Objective

Setting

Method

Main outcome measures

Results

Conclusion

Publications

Developing and piloting a communication assessment tool assessing patient perspectives on communication with pharmacists (CAT-Pharm).

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